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Oh happy days! Rob bought and installed a new Dell 8401 desktop with 17 inch TFT screen. My old one was already six years old and couldn't keep up anymore with my productivity. Now I know what real speed is.
In the evening my philosopher friend Evert Jan paid me a visit and - as usual - we talked till late at night.
At Greenbelt the Church Mission Society recruited me for their legion of cross bearers. They started a social justice campaign titled 'Restoring the Image', in which they highlight the war in northern Uganda, asking what it would take to restore the image of God in this devastated people.
To fund their peace and reconciliation work, they sold 'Cwa' crosses from Kitgum, made by young people who have fled the Lord's Resistance Army rebels. The crosses are made from the branches of the Cwa tree, which are thin, flexible and tough. They are used as instruments of torture by the rebels, who thrash the hands of their captives with them. It's incredible, but since 1990, some 28,000 children have been abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army, 12,000 of those in the last two years. The boys are turned into child soldiers, the girls are being used as (sex) slaves. So now you know why, at least for a season, I'm walking with an instrument of torture around my neck.
Real English breakfast today: bacon, eggs and white beans in tomato sauce. We talk with John Smith about spiritual upheavals and changes in society. Interesting stuff.
The program this morning is an open air church service and communion with 17,500 people around Greenbelt's theme 'Freedom Bound'. But before the service ends we have to run to catch our National Express coach to Heathrow. Just in time; the gates of heaven swing open and the rains pours down on Greenbelt, changing the grasslands into muddy pools.
Journey. Struggle. Moving on.
Exodus. Wilderness. Promised Land.
Ever onward. Not always upward.
Let's go together...
Because we're freedom bound.
Greenbelt is a place of artistic freedom, where Christians and God seekers from all kinds of backgrounds camp, create, celebrate and chill-out together. I like the atmosphere, that is pervaded with a sense of social justice. Nice for people like me who missed out on the Jesus Movement. And with 18 degrees and sun even the British weather is wonderful.
In one of the breakfast tents I enjoyed an excellent small theater performance by a Bulgarian YMCA group. Later I attended Charles Strohmer's seminar 'Is Christian publishing still Christian?', an insider's look at the good, the bad and the ugly of Christian writing and publishing.
In the afternoon I joined an in-depth interview with John Smith, a passionate and outspoken Ozzie biker, prophet and cultural philosopher. Nice combination of hobbies and ministries. This guy really has something to say; a pity Bush and Blair are not here.
Andrew (and in the Greenbelt progam I read also Connect Europe) set up a worship installation called 'Freedup: A Global Reflex'. Around the world, God is freeing up the next generation to be church in a new way, and respond to Him in new media. It's the kind of worship where you lie down and undergo a multi-layered video presentation, beamed on the walls and ceiling. The VJ's obviously wanted me to feel at home because they threw in a lot of flashing windmill shots. I like this stuff, and for those of you who only listen to Hillsong: this is also worship, trust me.
Because I heard a lot of talk about the Labyrinth, an interactive installation for spritual journeys, I also tried that one. There were two parts: a chill-out circle and the labyrinth itself, a copy of the original at Chartres cathedral. The basic idea is that you 'empty yourself' while walking from the outside in, then 'receive from God' when you're in the centre, and 'meditate on what you received and will do with it' when you walk out again.
Now here's my honest report. I really liked the chill-out area, which had the feel of a 24-7prayer room without graffiti. A good place to reflect and rest in God. But I disliked the labyrinth. First of all with 25-30 people walking the thing one-way you quickly end up in a traffic jam. Maybe they adapted it to the British queing culture, who knows. Secondly I experienced it as boxing-in rather than freeing-up. I'm not really claustrophobic, but I simply don't like to be forced in one specific direction. So after walking the prescribed route for 10 meters or so, I broke the rules of the labyrinth and walked straight out. Thirdly I'm not so sure how far you can go with redeeming pagan symbols. The Chartres labyrinth may have had a Christian meaning, but most if not all labyrinths originate from Crete and ancient Egypt, where they were part of the not-so-Christian death cult. And I prefer life over death for sure.
In the evening, when Delirious played on the main stage, we grabbed a Guinness in the Winged Ox. The end of an inspiring day at Greenbelt.
Tallskinnykiwi Andrew picked me up with his impressive Volkswagen van and caravan. We are heading for the Greenbelt arts festival at the Cheltenham Racecourse (a two hour drive from London), where Andrew and Jonny Baker set up the Epicentre Global Roundtable for Emerging Church. Quite a mouthful, but in essence it's a get-together of people who are planting churches in the (postmodern) emerging culture.
Andrew had asked me to take notes during the Roundtable, but I was so tired that I fell asleep (does that sound familiar?), so Reinhold ended up doing the job. The nice thing of a roundtable is that you can meet some folks that you only know from their weblog. Like Will Samson and his wife and novelist Lisa, Maggi Dawn, Bob Carlton, Si Johnston and Karen Ward. It was also good to hang out with Ron Willoughby who will bring in the 'results' of our roundtable into the worldwide forum of the Lausanne movement in Thailand next month.
Andrew, who loves desolated places (like the Orkney Islands where he plans to move his family to start a monastery) found a nice far-away place to park our caravan. Because I didn't like the idea of sleeping with three snoaring men in a caravan I put up my own tent and enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the hills of Cheltenham.
I'm in Greenford in West London, an area with many Indian immigrants and curry restaurants. Corien invited her Anglican friends for an open space discussion on 'how to get dechurched without loosing your faith'. Or perhaps a better title would be: 'how to be the Body of faith that Christ intended after all'.
God seems to take more and more Christians through a huge paradigm shift from church-as-religion to church-as-a-radical-lifestyle. It's not about buildings, pastors and programs, but about bringing Jesus where people hurt, the priesthood of all believers, and developing a lifestyle of intimacy with the Father and doing the works He has prepared for us. For many people it's scary to let go of organised church, but when they do a whole new window of opportunity opens up. No need to say we talked till late at night.
This morning is our final meeting. We take time to evaluate the weekend (what was good and what should be improved), and ask everyone to indicate the area where they sense God is calling them, and what they want to contribute to and receive from the Connect Europe network.
Tim Fellows presents our basic development plan, after which we break up in regional groups. As Europe has 50 nations (counting the UK as four and including Israel) and is hard to 'grasp' as a continent, we decided to create an extra 'level' of 7 European regions: the nordic (north Atlantic, Scandinavia and Baltic nations), the anglosaxon (British Isles and Ireland), the germanic (Benelux and German-speaking nations), the catholic south (Spain, Portugal, France and Italy), the balcan (all nations in the triangle Slovenia-Greece-Moldova), the slavic (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) and the russian (Belarus, Ukraine and Russia). The first four regions are represented here in Geneva, so we use the opportunity the strengthen relationships and encourage the nations in these regions to pray for and help each other where possible.
Then it's time for communion. Not in the churchy sense of the word, where everyone puts on his solemn funeral face, while quietly passing on the bread and wine. No, this is a time of joyful celebration, encouragement and ministry to each other. We put the elements in the centre and everyone can take bread and wine and share Christ. All over the room people are praying for each other. It's this kind of community that marked the first church in Acts and made many people decide to follow Jesus.
The first Christians made their 'bond of love' very practical: they shared their resources, so that all needs would be met. Andreas from Germany suggests we have a special love offering: "Give joyfully as the Spirit leads, but feel also free to take money out of the offering if you have any need." I love this, wished every church would do this on a regular Sunday morning! The basket is filled with ease, but no-one takes anything out. Maybe because this is unusual and public, but more likely because God already blessed us out of our socks these days. Still I believe He wants us to experience something special, so I suggest we take a minute silence to hear from God whom of the participants He wants us to bless and with what amount. About 15 people come up to me, whisper into my ear what they received and we divide the money accordingly, praying over everyone. It's wonderful to bless people this way, and a great experience for us all to learn to share our resources in Christ.
After this experience no-one wants to leave. Jussi comes up with some specific words for people and we pray over them. Then it's time for a group picture and really close our gathering.
In the afternoon we have a debriefing with the team in the park overlooking Lake Geneva. We look back on a blessed time together, but also look forward. Today it's exactly two years since the start of our adventure in Herrnhut. A new window of opportunity is opening up, a new phase of God's plan to raise up the emerging generation in Europe for his purposes. We feel it's important to pray into and connect the (missing) regions in south-east Europe. We will meet every two weeks in a virtual space on the internet to pray and plan together. Connect meetings will be held in different nations this year. It's time to focus and develop the network, as God's Spirit leads the way.
Did I tell you we have Winkie Pratney (insert) with us? He's a quite well-known teacher on revival and reformation and gets many invitations from all over the world, but he came over from the States to just hang out with us. With his nerd-like appearance (he's a former chemist), broad experience and insight, sense of humor, and non-assuming attitude he's quite a character. It's wonderful to have him with us and this morning he's teaching on the five truths/fruits of the reformers:
1. Jesus is Lord of everything.
2. He's the Sovereign Lord of history.
3. Justification by faith.
4. The priesthood of all believers.
5. The Bible in the hands of all believers.
The first two imply that there is no room for idolatry or compromise in our lives or in the church. The last three imply that we are called as Christians to sanctify the ordinary and bring the Kingdom of Jesus into every sphere of life. "You can save thousands of euros on theological education by just embracing these three simple principles of life," Winkie says wittingly: "God is God. You are not. Make it hard on God and easy on you, because He can afford it." And: "What your generation got from God, will not fill the (church) boxes, you're supposed to break the rules. Reformation is about bringing us back to our foundations."
After Winkie's talk Tim Fellows throws in three questions to work out in small groups:
1. What is the difference between revival and reformation?
2. What does it take to be a reformer?
3. What is the role of the prophetic and apostolic in reformation?
Then it's time for lunch, we hang out in the park and some go for a swim, soccer or a tour through the city. I take a shower and head for a stroll along the lake with Winkie. My right eye is hurting. Somehow I've developed an eye infection. Winkie gives me some eye salve. Reminds me of Revelation 3, the need to receive God's eye salve so we can see Him and the real state of the church.
In the evening we draw out some of the answers to Tim's questions. Just to summarise the many good inputs:
1. Revival is new wine, an outpouring of God's Spirit, people returning to God. Reformation is the forming of new wineskins that are needed to contain the wine, a reshaping of the church to make sure she keeps flowing with God's Spirit.
2. Reformers are sold out to Jesus and his Kingdom. They hear his voice, have a willingness to be persecuted and killed for Christ's sake, and live their lives as worship to God. They don't get intimidated by religion, they obey God more than men, and are known for changing the rules of community and missions.
3. Prophets (see-ers) and apostles (master builders) move the church outward and into the future. It's important they learn to flow as a team and include the other ministries.
Then Simon Mason from the UK presents a simple strategy for multiplication that's helpful to translate vision into practice. Helen DaCosta of 24-7prayer (insert) shares some wonderful stories of what's happening in the prayer rooms in the UK and Finland, where spiritual seekers meet God in unexpected ways. Then we pray for the UK group; God seems to be calling them to invest in the European continent. Word and Spirit, Word and Spirit - resonates in the room.
Matt Scrimgeour (insert) is an amazing guy. He takes care of all the logistics of the weekend, and is still able to facilitate meetings in a fresh and releasing way. Jussi from Finland is also quite a character. Half an hour before the meeting starts he's on location to pray for breakthrough. Often he's singing so loud that I'd wish John Calvin was still alive, as in his time 'loud singers' were treated on a tongue piercing. In some respects Calvin was way beyond his time...
Today several people feel intimidated and disconnected. We pray for them and I explain how satan uses intimidation and our inner insecurities to keep us from our calling and how we can deal with it. Then I move on to the theme of this morning: Luke 9 and 10, in which Jesus sends out his disciples two by two. It's a prototype of apostolic ministry and a more mobile form of church. Jesus gives his friends the authority over demons and sickness, and tells them not to bring food, money or extra clothing. He's moving them out of their comfort zone, so they really have to trust God for their daily needs and to find the 'people of peace', folks that God prepared to receive the Kingdom of God.
I share from my own life how God led me into a deeper depencency on Him, and that this can be strugglesome. But I believe God is calling our generation to a prophetic lifestyle that is counter-cultural. Living without human securities will break strongholds in our own lives and others'. It prepares us for more difficult times, like times when Christians won't be able to buy or sell, and have to trust God's provision daily. It's also the heart of apostolic ministry: laying down our lives for the unreached, meeting people's needs right where they are, bringing Jesus into the conversation and into their experience. By offering prayer or blessing people relationally or practically we are imparting something of the Kingdom of God.
Maaike (insert) shares her heart for the lost and hurting. "Did you know that if you would just mention the names of the world's street kids one by one to God - like Peter, Jeremy, Hannah, Joyce... - you would need five years to mention them all?" So many people hurt and it makes a big difference if someone prays and cares in Jesus' name. Then Maaike and Heidi Plympton give a very practical lesson in how to prophesy over people and speak destiny into their lives. We practise in small groups of three with people we don't know yet.
After a picknick in the park we go out two by two into Geneva to hang out with people and bless them, trusting Jesus to pave the way and make the right connections. Everyone is excited about this opportunity. Maaike and I link up and take a stroll along the lake. When we come across an older man, Maaike receives a word of knowledge that he lost contact with his son. The guy only speaks French and confirms that his son lives in Zürich and doesn't really care about him anymore. Now things get complicated, because he's a bit drunk and I have no clue what else he's talking about. Suddenly he gets up from his bench and walks away. We pray for him that God will heal his hurt and restore the relationship with his son. And above all, that he will receive a revelation of Jesus Christ and the calling on his life.
A bit later we spot a 'pillar of smoke' above the park and decide to check it out. It turns out to be a group of people having a BBQ, and they are so kind to invite us to partake in the meat. At least we'll be able to fulfil the 'eat and drink whatever they give you' part, I ponder. The group is quite young and international: a guy from Mongolia who looks like Zenghis Khan, a guy from Turkmenistan who apparently loves the good things in live but misses his wife and kids back home, a girl from Asia, an intellectual looking guy from Israel, a business trainee guy and several girls from Russia, a guy from France. This unlikely band of friends seem to work together on a project for the restitution of money to victims of the holocaust. The girl from Asia tells me that in order to decide on the applications of the Jewish victims, she had to read through the stories of what had happened to them in the concentration camps. This caused her nightmares for the fist two months she worked on the project. The group is spoiling us with sausages, steak, juice and wine. Then the wodka starts pouring and we are being treated on Russian songs. We share that we're in Geneva with a group of 50 friends from different nations to pray for people and share Jesus with them. When we leave they all shake hands and say 'God bless you'. The guy from Turkmenistan says: "Think of me, Tahir." I tell him I'll pray for him.
When we arrive at the church, our group starts pouring in. Everyone has had special encounters with people and it's wonderful to hear the stories.
In the evening we hear stories about what God is doing among the emerging generation in Finland, Norway, the Shetlands, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Portugal. Then we pray for the participants from these nations. Matt has an interesting way of doing this. We first get the people in a circle while they embrace each other's shoulders. Then we shout to the Lord to thank Him and call on Him for these nations. I can tell you, this is not just shouting, but something is breaking through in the heavenlies and released in these people. Then we pray in tongues over them. Then a time of silence and hearing from God. Then a time of sharing and praying out prophetic words over the nations. Then we 'push' God's destiny and promises into them. No need to say it was awesome.
A bright sunny day again. I took Jussi’s advice to anoint my room with oil and slept very well. And guess what - God provided a meeting place. In the mornings we can use the youth hostel’s games room. It has a better sound, it’s bigger and has nice sofas. In the late afternoons and evenings we can use the upper room of a nearby church, that Matt bumped into. It’s a great place with authentic 19th century woodwork, and a classical piano that we can use in our worship times.
We finish our team planning time and join the Finns and Norwegians for a picknick in the park. On a bench overlooking Lake Geneva I do a little power nap and prepare my kick-off presentation for tonight. When I return in the youth hostel for dinner, everyone has arrived. There are tribes from seven nations: Norway, Finland, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Portugal. The youngest participant is 14 years old, the oldest is in his sixties – the ‘emerging generation’ is actually quite intergenerational, although most of the ‘connectors’ are between 18 and 35.
In the evening we announce that we haven’t booked a worship band or asked people to ‘lead the worship’, we will simply move with God’s Spirit. Anyone can join in with his or her giftings, be it music, dance, songs or prophetic prayer. It works out well. Conny from Dresden heads for the piano, Anne-Maria from Oslo plays her violin, Matt from Glasgow brought a drum, and several others play the guitar. But most of all, we pour out our hearts to God, and want to hang out in his presence.
Because half of the folks are new to Connect Europe, I take 30 minutes to tell our story and explain what the vision is all about. I share about John Hus and Count Zinzendorf, the outpouring of God’s Spirit in Herrnhut, and how in our time God spoke prophetically through several younger leaders that it’s his time to connect the emerging generation in Europe to align with God’s purposes for our continent. The restoration of 24-7 prayer and living on the cutting edge of community, missions and justice is part of our dna. The church will become mobile again, out of the buildings into the streets and places where people hang out.
I explain that the purpose of our meeting is three-fold:
1. to align with what God is doing among the emerging generation in Europe;
2. to intentionally push for a new reformation of 'church', and to obey Christ more than men;
3. to reverse things for God's purposes, and thus gradually change the spiritual tide in our continent.
During the weekend we will process this in a simple format of pray, play and obey. One third of our time is for prayer, worship and the prophetic. One third is for building friendship, meals and having fun. One third is for strategy issues, practical outworking and the apostolic.
After the introduction we break up in small groups with people we don’t know yet. Back in the plenary everyone is shortly being introduced by someone else, which is quite hilarious. Maaike announces that the person we just introduced will also be our prayer buddy. A flying start of our weekend together.
With sunshine, 25 degrees and a light breeze, Lake Geneva is the place to be. The promenade is just 500 meters from the youth hostel where we stay and is leading to a beautiful park with an astouding view over the lake, the yachts, the mountains, and the majestic Mont Blanc range.
Geneva's iconic Jet d'Eau is impressive. With 140 meters it's the tallest fountain in the world. It shoots water into the air with incredible force (200km/h and 1360 horsepower). At any one time seven tonnes of water is in the air.
With 250 nationalities, 300 languages and 300 international organisations, Geneva is very cosmopolitan. Many of the organisations and institutes here have to do with charity and social justice - think of the International Red Cross, the WHO and the UNHCR. But there's also corruption of power and abuse of money. The CERN institute in Geneva is the birthplace of the World Wide Web, and hosts the world's biggest machine - a 27km circular particle accelerator - and the largest magnet. Add to this Geneva's historic role as a city of reformation, and it is clear that this is an interesting place to connect.
In the park we meet the Finnish and Norwegian group. They decided to come three days before the event to pave the way in prayer. On the surface the Finns and Norwegians look so quiet, but when they start praying heaven breaks loose. Their role will prove to be quite key in the days to come. It's good to see each other again, and wonderful to experience that although we don't meet that often, our friendship has deepened. A bit later Heidi and Ben arrive from the UK.
In the evening we have our team meeting in the youth hostel. Only five of the team could make it (Maaike, Heidi, Matt, Niina and myself), but the advantage is that we can move a bit faster as we prepare. As we pray and lift Jesus up, we draw a mindmap on the wall, with the issues God is bringing up. We make some cross connections and pray into it.
I'm preparing for our Connect Europe gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, which will be held 20-23 August. We expect up to 50 young leaders who long to connect around God's purposes for Europe. It will be a time of envisioning and building friendship. A main theme will be reformation, laying foundations for tomorrow's church. More about this gathering here. Would appreciate your prayers.
Tomorrow I will fly to Geneva to gather with the team. Matt Scrimgeour is already on location. The Finnish contingency will arrive tonight with their 'tabernacle of prayer'.
I probably won't be blogging until Monday night, so check out some other weblogs. Andrew posted a personal confession on spiritual abuse, that is a must-read for anyone in ministry.
Today in Joel News International the daring story of a group of Christians in New Zealand who decided to dismantle their church building with a chain saw, because they wanted to follow Jesus and serve their community unconstrained by institutionalized religion.
In the Dutch edition of Joel News an interview with Wim van Duijvenbode, who is calling 4,000 Christians in Rotterdam (10 percent of the believers) to humble themselves in prayer, because of the lukewarm state of the Church.
Last week Kerstin mailed me that my blog reminded her of a funeral institution, because of the black title bar on top. "You are far too fresh and innovative for such a depressing color, I think, and would recommend to something slightly more fresh and life-giving... This is just a woman's aesthetic opinion."
OK Kerstin, I changed the colours to something more fresh and innovative. Blue stands for creativity and the sky is the limit, green for life and Dutch vegetables, red for passion and warmth. I also put up a new picture, so I look like the ideal family man. Now my blog is completely women-friendly.
Wolfgang Fernandez, one of the former pioneers of the DAWN movement, is blogging again. He's now helping young people in Indonesia, Latin America and other places to plant churches and develop small-scale companies to support themselves. It was Wolf who introduced me to the DAWN vision and network back in the Nineties.
Yesterday we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday in the garden of their new house in Houten. Today it was Peter's turn, as he will turn three next Tuesday. He told us that he will stop using diapers when he turns three, but he's not too keen yet on using the toilet. David is very fond of his younger brother and gave him a big hug.
For several years I've been praying for Luxemburg, the smallest member of the EU and one of the least evangelised nations in Europe. In the Nineties I walked the country in the form of a cross, from west to east and from north to south. I took a prayer team from Utrecht to Luxemburg to pray for God's purposes for this nation and to see new churches being established. Last year I prayer-cycled to Luxemburg in the footsteps of Willibrord, the apostle who brought the gospel to this area in the early 8th century. When on conferences there is a time of prayer for the nations, I use to take the stand for Luxemburg, as there are usually no representatives from this nation, and I want it to be at least a prayed-for nation.
Today God encouraged me. On the horizon I could see a cloud like a man's hand. When Reinhold was in Portugal half a year ago, he met Paulo, a pastor/church planter with a calling for Luxemburg. Of course we got in touch and today he paid me a visit with his whole family. It was wonderful to sense his heart for Luxemburg. He told me something I didn't know; that a quarter of the population of Luxemburg is Portuguese. It reminded me of something that Paulo Pascoal of the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance told me earlier this year, that the biggest minority group in Portugul are Ukrainians. No kidding, this is modern Europe.
Now the Ukrainians happen to be the most active church planters in Europe. If they export this mentality to Portugal, I can easily picture the Portuguese taking it into Luxemburg. That would be great. Anyway, this Paulo is now pastoring a Portuguese church in Luxemburg, but he also wants to plant churches among the indigenous Luxemburgers. He told me: "Before I came to Luxemburg I thought I would just pastor a church and that's it. But when I moved there some months ago, God gave me a deep passion for this nation, even to the point that I'm willing to die here to see Jesus proclaimed."
I told Paulo a bit about the history and the prayer trips I did, and showed him the research that DAWN Flanders did in 1998, and which could be done for Luxemburg as well. Basically it's mapping the number of Evangelical churches on the population, which immediately shows where the unreached areas are. Then those areas can be prayed into and adopted by churches who intend to plant a daughter church.
Earlier this week Patrick Scholman, the DAWN guy for Flanders, told me that they plan to do a new research and want to include Wallonia and Luxemburg, which would be another step forward.
I'd wish there were angels with the specific assignment to help the saints book their flights. It's one of the administrative hassles that always take too much time. Of course I want it as cheap and efficient as possible, so I check different carriers, wait a bit more and check again. I don't like long lay-overs and don't want to spend my energy on long add-on connections to far-away airports.
Thanks to KLM's Summer fares I found a good connection to Heathrow, and somehow if you book through the obscure carrier Portugália Airlines you get on a flight to Lisbon that is serviced by TAP Air Portugal, but not in the middle of the night like the regular flights, but on a more Christian time.
Well, enough about these hassles, I have another flight to book. The next two months I will probably hang around on airports, dreaming about the launch of Philippus Air, so that apostles can be teletransported to different areas of the world in the wink of an eye.
Fellow blogger Erling Thu, whom I met in Bergen earlier this year, keeps a special weblog with poems. For some reason all his poems start with the sentence 'To be somebody', as we find our ultimate being and destiny in God who created us.
To be somebody is having a dream
That consumes you like a fire
Giving you no rest but
Motivating you to make great sacrifices
Preparing you for bold initiatives
Stirring you to adventurous living
As you are pursuing your dream with joyful hope
To be somebody is having great dreams
Nor only for yourself and your own people
But having dreams on behalf of the underprivileged,
And having dreams for your affluent society
Or the many suffering groups in the world
When you are dreaming great dreams
Of a changed society and a better world
You will lay down your life as a seed of hope
As a fruit everyone will see
That you are really somebody
For you are not living for yourself
Made several phone calls to the UK to catch up with people.
Andrew Jones, who just returned from a family pilgrimage to the Orkney Islands, is preparing for the Epicentre event at Greenbelt, and we also talked about 24-7prayer and church planting.
Brian Mills, one of the spiritual dads in the prayer movement, told me he's finishing his book on the journey of reconcilitation from England to Australia, held several years ago.
Jane Holloway, the prayer and evangelism secretary of the British Evangelical Alliance, helped me to reflect on the process of unity and partnership in the Dutch prayer movement. The process she is involved in in the UK is very similar.
Corien Boele, a friend from Utrecht who lives in London, wants me to come over to hang out with her friends. She announced me as the guru from Holland, so I guess I have to put on my sandals, grow a long beard and bring some LSD and marihuana...
Just finished Ed Silvoso's 'That none should perish', an insightful and balanced book on how to reach whole cities (or areas) with the gospel. Silvoso stresses that breakthrough prayer, unity among leaders, evangelism and church planting have to be combined into one strategic approach. One element cannot do without the other. Also it's imperative to first establish and secure a beachhead before you conquer enemy territory. An effective way to do this is by mobilising local Christians into prayer cells (lighthouses).
Yesterday I read Peter & Else Vlug's biography 'And we have kept the faith...', which chronicles their key role in the post-war charismatic movement in the Netherlands. Fifty intense years, from the healing revivals of the Fifties and Sixties, megafestations like the One Way Days, the Vierhouten conferences and the March for Jesus, to the start of - now established - ministries like Opwekking, De Bron, EZA, HCF and Chris, and the more recent platforms for unity.
It's quite amazing what the Builders have accomplished. Most of the Evangelical organisations that have shaped the spiritual landscape of the Netherlands came out of the youth revivals of the Fifties and Sixties. There was a lot of vision and energy, and a practical hands-on mentality to realise things. There's much to be thankful for, as God worked miracles in those days and used the pioneering spirit of the Builders to bring renewal to the Church and start a new stream of missions.
The other side of the coin is endless Evangelical activism (working for God), lack of grace towards less active or less Spirit-filled believers, and manipulative leadership. Some people had strong personalities and could not be corrected, others led double lives. Although in their biography the Vlugs openly share about life's ups and downs, and address some of these issues, they seem to be avoiding the more difficult episodes.
In 1993 for instance it became public knowledge that Ben H., the most profiled evangelist in the Netherlands, with whom the Vlug's had partnered intensively for more than 30 years, had led a double life of preaching on holiness and revival while visiting prostitutes during most of his active ministry years. When this surfaced, the Evangelical leaders quickly closed ranks and decided not to publicly communicate about it. But of course the news spread anyway, Ben H. and the Vlugs separated ways and the evangelist's marriage broke down, causing a lot of confusion among their followers. Up to today no-one has openly shared what happened, and the Vlugs have kept this difficult episode out of their book. I'm sure they did it for pastoral reasons, but likely also to protect their ministry's reputation and interests, as they must have been aware of some of the issues at hand.
Looking back on the history of the charismatic movement in the Netherlands, I would be interested in an honest evaluation: what were the blessings and the mistakes, the strenghts and the weaknesses - so we can fully benefit and learn from it. How effective has the charismatic movement been in discipling people? What were the flaws in this movement's theological practice? I guess we have to wait for a more in-depth publication to really know.
The Dutch Reformed Daily interviewed Simon Jenkins of Ship of Fools, a Christian satirical website. His latest project Church of Fools is drawing 1 million visitors a month, many of them unchurched. Last Sunday Tony Campolo preached on 'why many people in the world hate America'.
Nice feature: Ship of Fools has an intrepid team of Mystery Worshippers travelling incognito in the British aisles and beyond, reporting on the comfort of the pews, the warmth of the welcome, the length of the sermon... The only clue that they have been there at all is the Mystery Worshipper calling card, dropped discreetly into the collection plate.
A funny story from satirical newspaper The Onion: In the interest of national security, President Bush has been asked to stop posting entries on his three-month-old personal weblog, acting CIA director John E. McLaughlin said Monday. According to McLaughlin, several recent entries on PrezGeorgeW.typepad.com have compromised military operations, while other posts may have seriously undercut the PR efforts of White House press secretary Scott McClellan.
BTW, Ancestry.com reports that Bush and Kerry happen to be family. Well, of course if you go back far enough the whole world ends up being family...
Satirical newspaper Lark News ran a funny story about the smallest small group of America - made up of one guy who fellowships with himself. "I meet at my house every week in the living room," he says. "I bring snacks and my Bible, and after some chit-chat I get down to discussing that week's reading, sharing my burdens, my praise reports. Then I pray for myself."
And a nice parody on the Evangelical hype culture:
Pastors await next 'witnessing event of a lifetime'
